There's no need to make this stuff up anymore since end-of-day stick saves are right there and in your face.

There's no need to make this stuff up anymore since end-of-day stick saves are right there and in your face. No pretense or deception is necessary anymore. When you have "other people's money," including the taxpayers to work with; you can do what you wish and not be called-out on it. Who's going to do that anyway, the financial media? LOL!!! Anyway, the media got the headline number they wanted and Main Street is no doubt impressed.

Now to the hard part--earnings. Starting with Alcoa (which just reported a miss) will be followed by important companies like Intel and Bank of America.

There isn't much in the way of economic news until Retail Sales and the Fed Beige Book on Wednesday.

Monday's volume was pathetically light; so managing the market higher was easy for those who could. Breadth was positive per WSJ data below.

The NYMO is a market breadth indicator that is based on the difference between the number of advancing and declining issues on the NYSE. When readings are +60/-60 markets are extended short-term.

Per Investopedia: The McClellan Summation Index is a long-term version of the McClellan Oscillator. It is a market breadth indicator, and interpretation is similar to that of the McClellan Oscillator, except that it is more suited to major trends. I believe readings of +1000/-1000 reveal markets as much extended.

Per Investopedia: The VIX is a widely used measure of market risk and is often referred to asthe "investor fear gauge". Our own interpretation is highlighted in the chart above. The VIX measures the level of put option activity over a 30-day period. Greater buying of put options (protection) causes the index to rise.